Green Eggs, But No Ham

Eggs!

One of Cindy's Master Gardener friends gave her some eggs from his family's farm in La Mesa.

I was amazed at how beautiful these eggs were, especially the greenish-blue ones.  They were delicious, too, with large yolks that were so intensely yellow they were almost orange.

We wondered if such eggs had inspired Dr. Seuss's Green Eggs And Ham, but according to a Wikipedia article, it was inspired by a bet between Dr. Seuss and his publisher, Bennet Cerf, that he could not write a book using as few as 50 words.

Cock-A-Doodle

The green eggs started Cindy and me wondering what breed of chicken produces green eggs.  That led us to Henderson's Handy-Dandy Chicken Chart, which indicates that the two most likely breeds are the Ameraucana and the Arucana breeds.  The former lays various shades of blue and green egg and the latter lays only blue, so these eggs were most likely from Ameraucana chickens.

Dominick, who supplied the eggs, says the blue and green ones come from Ameraucana hens, the white ones are from Anconas and the brown eggs are from Barred Plymouth Rock hens.

Looking at pictures of Ameraucana chickens led us to an "ah ha" moment:  the Ameraucana roosters pictured were absolute ringers for Cock-A-Doodle, the very handsome rooster who had lived in our shrubbery for about a year.  We had always wondered what breed he was, so I'm thinking we may have identified it.

With the help of the hens in his new harem, Cock-A-Doodle may have helped several new generations of chickens produce lovely green eggs.

Party Animal

I couldn't resist taking a St. Patrick's Day picture of A.B., Cindy's Assistant Bear, who loves to party.

A. B. O'Bear Parties

Due to circumstances beyond his (and our) control, he unfortunately had to miss Mardi Gras this year, so a St. Patrick's Day party was absolutely essential.

I don't know about that umbrella in his drink glass, though.  That doesn't look like authentic Irish Whiskey to me.

First Rose...And Whitefly

Ole

The lovely red Ole (should be an accent mark there, but I don't know how to do that) was the first of the roses to bloom this year.

We love the brilliant red of this rose, so we went over to take a closer look.

Then we noticed the aphids and the Whitefly, tiny white sap-sucking insects, on the unopened buds.  They excrete Honeydew and a large population of Whitefly can devastate a plant.  Ugh.

Whitefly

 A blast of water is one way to get rid of these pests.  We prefer not to use insecticides, because they may also take out beneficial insects, such as Lady Beetles and Lacewings, that eat Whiteflies.

Time for the Bug Blaster.

Queen Palm Trimming

The city of San Diego used to have a forestry department that would come around and trim all the Queen Palms in the neighborhood every other year, but because the city is broke, they don't do that anymore.  

So Earl, one of our neighbors, put together a deal with a tree trimming company to come do it for us last Saturday.  

I love watching these guys work.  One guy goes up in a cherry picker crane and uses a power saw to cut through the stems of the old fronds and the seed pods.  

They just let the fronds fall to the ground, but this crew attaches a rope to the seed pod and carefully lowers it to the ground; if they let the pods fall, the seeds will explode off the pod and go all over the place.  Earl told us that each pod weighs about 60 pounds; that much weight falling from a 50 or 60 foot tall tree could be a real hazard.  

Once the fronds are cut, they trimmers also take off as many of the frond butts they can, but some remain on the trees until they fall off naturally.  We found that out the hard way years ago when we came home and found that a palm butt had shattered the window of the car we had left parked on the street under the tree.  

Sometimes gravity is not your friend.  

"Shave and a Haircut..."

Queen Palm Nut Pods

Our neighborhood was a subdivision of San Diego begun in 1910.  The streets are all named after English counties, but the prevailing architectural styles are Craftsman and Spanish Revival.

Somewhere along the way, somebody planted Queen Palms, Syagrus romanzoffiana, along most of the streets.

After the Haircut

When I first moved to San Diego, I told my realtor that I wanted "real trees", not palms, but I've grown rather fond of them over the years.  For one thing, you don't have to spend entire weekends in the fall raking leaves.

The main problem with Queen Palms is that they are not "self cleaning", meaning that they occasionally need to have dead fronds and seed pods trimmed off to keep them healthy and attractive.

Lots of Queen Palms in the 'Hood

The seed pods are really the worst aspect of Queen Palms; they look interesting at first, with a fibrous pod forming under the fronds, which later splits open to reveal the hundreds of palm nuts inside.  If the nuts are left on the tree, they eventually turn orange and drop off onto the ground below.  Where they decay.  And stink.  And attract vermin.

And if you don't sweep them up, they're a tripping hazard for your neighbors and will eventually create thousands of little palm trees in your yard.
It's no wonder that some communities in Florida consider them an invasive species.

Properly cared for, they can be quite attractive.

Gnome Management

I just had to post a link to this IPM (Invasive Pest Management) video on how to deal with invasive garden gnomes.

Who knew they were such pests?  Now we just need a video on how to deal with invisible deer...

Orchidaceous

Are Those Buds????

Somebody gave Cindy a lovely orchid several years ago, and it was beautiful while the flowers lasted.

But after it finished blooming, the plant was shifted around from place to place and finally ended up in the plant "hospital" behind the garage, where it has been ever since.

Recently Cindy noticed some buds on the plant; a cool, shady environment and a program of benign neglect seems to have agreed with it.

Now the deep purple buds have finally opened, revealing the creamy interiors of these gorgeous flowers.

The word "orchidaceous" means "of, relating to, or denoting plants of the orchid family", but the word itself seems to have a connotation of the luscious, outrageous beauty of these wonderful flowers.

Orchidaceous.  Wow.

Yes!!!